cma410

Hi all,

I will be leaving from SEA to FRA with LH491 in about 4 hours and have a confirmed paid Ticket in Booking Class D. The flight shows no availability at all except 2 seats in A or F.

a) how are my chances to be op-upped to F as a SEN?
b) what is the best strategy to increase chances?
--> OLCI ? (I assume no!)
--> check in early at the airport ?
--> check in late ?
--> talk to the gate agent ?
--> anything else ?

Any help is appreciated!

regards
cma410

oliver2002

Check in late and talk to the F checkin agent/supervisor (all the others are contract labor) and ask to be put on the upgrade list.

hch

Umm, none. Just wait and see.

GK1998

there's no real strategy IMHO
I always do OLCI
Sometimes I arrive very early at the airport, sometimes in the last minute
I never ask for an upgrade nor do I talk to the GA
My upgrade success has always been very high, don't really know why
I never get upgraded at check-in but always at the gate or lounge, sometimes when boarding, the ticket machine beeps and I get an upgrade. ^ On a NCE-ZRH trip we were on the bus to the airplane, the bus was leaving the station then stopped suddenly, the GA entered the bus called my name and I got upgraded to C on the bus.
As a FTL (still a student at that time) I was once flying on a V fare, upgraded to C with miles, then at the gate my name was called and I got an F ticket ^
When I was a student, I was also upgraded from Y to C on TATL flights even though there were several seats available in Y. Never asked for it. Not sure why.
As an FTL I even got the HON treatment in MUC, was flying in discounted Y JFK-MUC connecting to MUC-NCE. Flight was delayed, when I was exiting the airplane a driver was waiting for me, took me through seperate immigration/passport control and drove me directly to the airplane that was waiting, I was the last person to enter, then we took off. ^ great service, but certainly not warranted considering in which class I was flying.

I have absolutely no idea what criteria they use to upgrade pax

rorschi

I bet there is no strategy available for us - the airline makes the choice who gets the opup and not the passenger.

At MUC and FRA, there are screens at the gates on which the "accepted passengers" from the waiting list are stated (with the 3 first letters of the family name) - and often my seat-number appears on this screen. That's always the moment that I have to hurry up for assuring that my new seat in the upper Class is not worse than my original one...

My strategy is:
When booking myself (90%): Always book the COS I'm willing to fly in
When booked by the company (10%): Always bother LH to get the best possible available seat in the booked COS.

...and as soon as an equipment change is announced: New bothering.

riku2

I think your biggest indicator is who your fellow passengers are. I get upgraded a lot more on FRA-HEL or MUC-HEL than other routes from germany. I have started to think that since most of my finnish fellow coworkers are using SAS Eurobonus cards then that means there are fewer SENs onboard and my SEN card does the trick.

Same probably goes for long distance routes. There are probably plenty of SENs going on holiday to Bangkok but not that many to Caracas.

From looking at the expert flyer seat map I can even see that sometimes i'm upgraded even though there are one or two empty seats still in Y.

But I have seen a couple of times recently people refuse op ups since they are traveling with non upgraded partner. In that case someone else (often the standby pax put in the upgraded persons seat) that gets the op up.
So based on this logic you should always board last. Hope that someone else is in your seat and you'll get their op up !
One guy even ignored the new boarding pass for C and sat in his original seat next to his wife in Y. The woman who boarded later and found him in her seat got an op up to C in the plane.

cma410

Just missed it :-(

There have been some op-ups of other SEN passagers, but the flight manager told me that he is obliged to offer the op-up first to LH SENs before an OS SEN is served. So maybe this seems to be some form of SEN+

Will be airborne in a few minutes,
cma410

hch

W_T_F? So we're discriminated just because LH outsourced M&M handling in this Country to a messed up Company?

I think I'd really want a clarification about that from Michelle, but I can't quite believe it.

Rambuster

No, it is because you suck at football !

Seriously, that does not sound like a plausible procedure. There should be no difference between an LH/LX/OS/LOT SEN !

Sounds like BS to me from the flight manager, perhaps giving the OP a story why he was not upgraded?

hch

Let's hope it was just an excuse. Even if it's not official policy having it enforced by a flight manager would be really bad. Especially as I'll fly out of SEA soon

neo16287

The prefix numbers for a SEN are the same for all airlines. I have never heard of a SEN differentiation. I myself have never been directed to upgrade the LH SENs before the LX or OS SENs.

Rambuster

Thanks for the clarification ! So all SEN numbers start with 2220 (pure SEN cards, not Credit Cards, etc) ?

In this case the flight manager would not be able to see at all if they are looking at an LH / LX / OS etc.. .SEN, unless you actually flaunt the card in front of him.

hch

Heh. In which case I for example conveniently have both a LH and a OS branded HON card Or in fact just a LH branded one currently, although that will change again soon. Not that I ever had to wave any card in front of a flight manager.

hch

In the FCT/FCLs they actually have a different column for OS/LH/LX HONs (don't remember if there was one for LO too). I asked them what's it's for and got the answer that it's for accounting purpose. Ever since I randomly switch between my LH and OS branded cards when entering these places.

Rambuster

I guess there is a cross-charge for LX/OS/LO members utilising LH facilities and vice-versa.